A. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to accent strips for automotive bodies and the like, and more particularly to accent strips designed for the steering wheel of a car.
B. Description of the Prior Art
Many consumers who purchase moderately priced automobiles would like to be able to enhance the look of the automobile""s steering wheel so that it has the appearance found in many luxury cars. For example, Mercedes Benz, Audi and BMW market automobiles in which certain elements, such as the steering wheel, combine real or plastic wood veneer is used as a decorative material. Car manufacturers often use carbon fiber and other highly decorative materials to enhance the appearance of the interiors of motor vehicles, especially in high-end or expensive vehicles such as sports cars.
However, the interiors of average vehicles and low-end or inexpensive vehicles are frequently only scantily decorated and the owner of these vehicles must rely on after-market decoration products to enhance the appearance of the vehicle interior. The number of such aftermarket products are very limited, especially for the steering wheel.
One solution available to a motor vehicle owner is to change an entire part or section of the vehicle with one that has a more decorative look. However, in some cases, such a change is impractical and too expensive. For example, all modern passenger motor vehicle are provided with an air bag incorporated into a steering wheel. Typically, an after-market steering wheel can be made with an enhanced aesthetic appearance as compared to the original steering wheel. However, once the steering wheel is equipped with an air bag, the cost of the steering wheel becomes prohibitive. Moreover, changing such as steering wheel is difficult, and may have a negative impact on the warranty. Thus, replacing a standard, installed steering wheel with an after-market steering wheel is oftentimes an impractical option.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,968 to Grant, et al. is a significant improvement to previous options. The Grant design allows the user to install, without much difficulty, a look-enhancing steering ring on the upper or top portion of the wheel ring. However, the Grant design is less than desirable. The Grant steering wheel ring leaves a ridge that may be uncomfortable for some consumers when operating the steering wheel. In addition, the rigid material of the Grant steering wheel ring design creates significant installation difficulties and also has certain shortcomings with regard to fit. Further, the Grant steering wheel ring is model-specific and is not available for all steering wheel shapes and sizes.
The inventive design provides a self-sticking strip or combination of self-sticking decorative strips which usually have a decorative design and are covered by a clear coat having a domed cross-section, Each Strip is sufficiently flexible so that it can conform to a variety of steering wheel shapes, diameters and thicknesses.
Preferably each decorative strip is formed as follows. First, a substrate is cut out from a sheet of vinyl having the desired thickness. On one surface the sheet has been imprinted with a decorative design. The other surface of the substrate is covered with an adhesive material. The substrate and the adhesive material may each have a thickness in the range of 0.003-0.007 inches. The substrate is cut so that generally has an arcuate shape to conform to the curvature of steering wheel rings. Excess material is discarded using a weeding process.
Next, the substrate is disposed on a support. The support may be release sheet from which the final decorative strips can be separated and then mounted on a steering wheel as desired.
A doming process is the used to form a coat on top of the substrate thereby forming the decorative strips. The coat is a special non-uniform layer which is thicker at the center of the substrates then at the longitudinal edges. For this purpose a transparent resin is formed of two compounds, which resin is a thick liquid initially so that it can be poured over the substrates and room temperature, using a funnel or a nozzle. After the resin is poured over each substrate, the resin slowly flows laterally across the substrate surface until it reaches the substrate edges. The amount of resin poured or deposited over the substrate is carefully metered to insure that it does not flow over the edges. After the resin spreads laterally, it is cured, preferably at room temperature so that it forms a substantially hard coat over the substrate.
For a wheel having a ring with a large cross-sectional diameter, or if the strip is relatively narrow, a single strip may be sufficient. For broader strips, or wheel rings with larger cross-sectional diameters, several parallel strips may be necessary. The strips may have linear lateral edges, or may be interlocking profiles to ease the assembly and to insure that the strips fit better together.